3 The Doctor and I
by Dreamwalker-Bibliophile
Summary: This time June encounters the Doctor, after Silence in the Library.


Once again, an evening. But tonight it's cold and clear and I get quite an anticipated yet unexpected visitor.

Only as if I could hear, a quite familiar roaring sort of sound fills the air and I pull on my slippers to run outside and check it out. The little blue box has already materialized, but the doors haven't opened. I get ready to snap, but realizing that in all my years I still haven't learned how, I simply knock on the door. I am surprised that it doesn't open, given the enthusiasm of it's occupant, but looking at the box I realize it must be an younger version. So maybe the ninth or tenth.

"Doctor? Can I come in?" I say tentatively, my hand on the handle of the door.

"Sure."

I'm surprised he doesn't question who I am or how I know who he is, so he must be very distraught. I gently ease the door open, remembering to pull instead of push as he always does. The interior lights are dimmed, and the Doctor sits dejectedly at his sofa-seat near the console. As I pad up to him, I put my hand out to the wall of the TARDIS and quietly thank her, for she brought him where he needed to be. With a few simple deductions, (thank you Sherlock) I guess he has just come from the Library, the last days of River Song. Thank the gods he did not know her yet, or he would be even more broken. That puzzle of a woman.

He looked up at me with a look akin to surprise, then the light in his eyes dimmed and he was broken once more. I walk up to him hesitantly, and pull him up slowly from his seat and offer,

"How about we step inside? I'll make you some tea."

"Who..."

"Later, later. You've had quite enough mystery today, but right now you cannot be alone."

I lead him into the house and realize I am in pyjama bottoms and my dad's old sweater. I frown. Don't I remember throwing the old thing away? I disregard that as my current problem now is the Doctor. I lead him to the kitchen table and put on the kettle. I bustle about preparing the mugs and tea, and when I set the tea down, I take his hand and give it a reassuring squeeze, but he holds on as I sit down across from him. Human contact I guess.

"I'm glad she took you here. You are in no condition for horrors on Midnight today. They'll just have to manage without you. Jethro has a good head on his shoulders and Deedee will have to break away from Hobbes soon enough."

"She?" he's bleary eyed, and I'm glad he only got that one part out of my monologue. He needs no more worries now.

"The TARDIS, of course," I say as if it's the simplest thing, I know he will take it best that way. He sips at his tea and contentment flits across his face, then is replaced by confusion as he wakes up to the situation.

"Who are you? How do you know...?" he trails off, gesturing vaguely.

"I guess now's the best time. You may call me June. That's not my real name, but it's the one my parents gave me, so it must suffice. For me, such visitors as you are not quite unexpected. I seem to attract extra-dimensional beings like a magnet. Each has their own story, and each I know the story of. I know their story either through a book or a movie. For in my dimension, my original dimension, you are naught but fiction. Now I know that's a lot to take in, but just to simplify, I have know you since you met Rose, and I know your future."

"You do? Is River there? Do I find out who she is?" he seems to have perked up and warms his hands on the mug looking at me eagerly.

I squeeze his hand again and answer,

"Yes, yes, and yes again. Though I can't tell you. Spoilers." I grin as I repeat her "tagline" but stop as I see how it affects him. "She's fine. She is with her friends in the Library, Charlotte brought back Evangelina, Anita and the Daves for her. CAL is a good place now. You did all you could and it was quite a lot," I reassure him.

"All right. As she said, they were my rules. Don't tell me." The Doctor sat there for a few minutes digesting all of this, sipping the tea and staring into space. "I suppose it's all for the best. But what about Donna? I left her on Midnight to 'pamper' as she told me. Why didn't River say anything about her?"

It is my turn to contemplate and I stretch out my response. I knew he saw the hurt in my eyes for he looked away.

"I knew someday you would find me, as do all that need my help in any way, but I did not imagine it to be like this. I cannot tell you what happens to Donna, but I can tell you that it is in no way your fault. You could not have done anything. She saved the world, but she lost you." I look down and swirl the dregs of the tea around in my cup.

I can see him thinking, and hard, but the thought slips away, intentionally I think, as he turns around to question me more. He hesitates as he sees my sorrow, for as I realize the reality of things, I mourn for his vibrant companions.

"You're lonely too, aren't you?"

"I've got my books, I answer gesturing to the book-filled walls, but it turns out feeble.

"I can tell, by the way you talk, by how you act when you think no one's looking." It seems today just won't go well for me, so I sigh and begin to falteringly explain.

"I can't have very close friends, because they might encounter my visitors, or ... they would know where I live."

"Why does that matter?"

"Well, they would notice that I don't leave my house behind when I move. I am too used to it. And my books are all organized so I can find them easily." I answer with a small smile.

"Do you like to travel so much?" he asks first, seeming to ignore the moving the house bit.

"Well, one has to get use to it if one moves so many times." I said, hunching my shoulder slightly.

"Why?" I can almost see realization dawning, but he stops it, unbelieving.

"Why do I move? Well, people usually notice after a few years when you don't get any older." I straightened my back and intentionally looked away from him. "You're not the only one who lives forever you know."

Silence.


End file.
